History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

DISASTERS OF U. S. ARMY. 517
The army of Utah was now in evil case. Harney
had accepted the command reluctantly, and returned
to Kansas as soon as possible. Alexander was unfitted
for it, and Johnston had not yet arrived. Winter
was at hand; forage was almost exhausted; provisions
would fail within a few months; and if the
troops could not move into quarters within fourteen
days, there would be no animals left alive to convey
their supplies. The pitiful strait that had now overtaken
them is explained in a letter addressed by Colo-
nel Alexander, four days after the Green River catastrophe,
to the officers in command of forces en route
for Utah. "No information of the position or intentions
of the commanding officer has reached me," he
writes, "and I am in utter ignorance of the objects
of the government in sending troops here, or the
instructions given for their conduct after reaching
here. I have had to decide upon the following points
First, the necessity of a speedy move to winter quarters;
second, the selection of a point for wintering;
third, the best method of conducting the troops and
supplies to the point selected." A council of war was
held, and the point selected was Fort Hall, on Beaver
Head Mountain, 140 miles from Fort Bridger. So
little did the colonel know even about the disposition
of the command, that, at the time and place when he
expected to be joined by Colonel Smith, in charge
of supply trains, this officer was still at South Pass,
with an escort of two hundred men.
On the 11 th of October the troops commenced
their march. Snow was falling heavily, and for sev-
eral days they were compelled to cut a path for their
Supply, and that 100 wagons had been parked for three weeks on Ham Fork
without being molested. On the other hand, he states in the same report that
Col Waite of the fifth infantry, though not anticipating any trouble, was
preparing to send a detachment to the trains when he heard of their destruction.
For other accounts and comments on the disaster on Green River, see
Hickman's Destroying Anqel, 117-21; Beadle's Life in Utah, 189; Burton's
City of the Saints, 208-9; 8. F. Bulletin, Dec. 11, 1857; S. F. Alta, Dec. 17,
30, 1857; Sac. Union, Dec. 11, 1857. The list of stores destroyed is given
in Commissary Clarke's Report, in EL. Ex. Doc, 35th Cong. Lst Sess., no.
71, p. 63.
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